Cross country day was everything it was meant to be. Selena galloped and jumped and galloped and jumped and galloped and jumped. All three horses were fantastic and they were all in fine form. King Brian (Derg Boru) was first to go. He has been honest and a great jumper from day one, but both he and Selena found that he blasts the first half of the course and then loses endurance, not enthusiasm, towards the end of the course. Selena has been experimenting with giving him a little of Omega Alpha’s ‘Enduraforce’ paste. It’s an all natural supplement focusing on endurance, and it worked like a dream. He was not hot or excitable in any way (we always worry when we add anything new to the routine) and he was exactly the same at the end of the course as he was at the beginning, Selena was over the moon with him. She says she rode a bit too slowly into the second to last and then had to keep it steady through the owl hole. He still ducked at the owl hole, which is something you have to prepare for until they work it out. Fortunately Selena was prepared and although he skinned a little place on his stifles, he was slow and careful enough to jump his way around it without more than losing some hair. I don’t think he will duck again, here is a photo of ‘the duck’ at the Owl hole. 😉
Next was Woody’s show jumping. He had a rail. He was jumping into the triple and looking at the crowd behind the jump. It was a deliberate problem put there by the course designer and it caught out a few people but Selena felt that at his age and with his experience, he should have focused on his job not the crowd, so she was disappointed. However, he jumped his heart out everywhere else so she forgave him.
Not long after Woody set out on the three star cross country. He was ready for action and he flow around the course with the second fastest time of the day….good boy Woody. The rail had cost him two places and he was sixth after stadium but moved up to fourth after his cross country. We were thrilled with him, he has been so consistent.
Last ride of the day was Zephyr. He had not finished as high as expected (26th ) after dressage due to having an aversion for square halting yesterday….sigh. He made up for it. He flew around the cross country, never looking at a thing and gave Selena her third clear round of the day. It was a great day at the office.
